'To Bless All Mankind' March 6, 2017 Issue

Why ten-year-old girls can lift the world

The <i>Monitor’s</i> Editorial Board

Adapted from an article published in The Christian Science Monitor, October 25, 2016.

Speaking at a conference in October, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai recalled a childhood friend in Pakistan who was forced to marry at age 11, ending her life as a school student. Ms. Yousafzai, famous advocate for girls’ education, said schooling means far more for girls than just reading books or passing exams. For many, it is a path to freedom.

“We need to inspire women to be beyond limits,” she said.

The tale of her friend makes a case for a new approach by the United Nations and many others trying to lift the world’s poor: Focus particularly on girls. In fact, focus on ten-year-old girls. They are at a critical juncture in their life in both challenges and potential. Investing in that demographic has the greatest prospect to improve less-developed nations, according to the UN Population Fund in its annual report this past fall.

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